Conventional pacing cardiac catheters employ electrodes located along the distal length of the catheter. The electrodes are extrinsically mounted onto the catheter and are typically comprised of metal bands or tubes. The leads or wires extend from the electrodes, proximally through the flexible tubing member of the catheter, and are connected to an electrical apparatus used to perform diagnostic or therapeutic electrical functions with respect to the electrodes.
The electrodes located on the catheter are typically used either to accurately measure the electrical potentials in the walls forming the chambers of the heart or to pulse electrical current to stimulate the heart. The catheter is inserted through a small incision in a vein or artery of the patient. It is then passed along the blood vessel and into the heart. Once the catheter is properly positioned within the heart, electrical activity within the heart may be regulated or monitored via the electrodes located on the catheter.
Disadvantages associated with conventional cardiac pacing catheters include difficulties in securely attaching them and the costs associated with effectively mounting the metal bands on the tubular body. The metal band electrodes have been known to become loose and slide off of the tip of the catheter and remain in the patient. In addition, since the metal bands are located on the exterior surface of the catheter's flexible tubing, there is a greater likelihood of the band becoming snagged or scraping the internal surface of the patient's blood vessel or heart. This trauma to the vascular intima may lead to arrythmia and/or fibrillation of the heart. Therefore, there is a need for a cardiac catheter comprising electrodes which are easy to manufacture and which solve the above mentioned disadvantages associated with conventional cardiac catheters.